Mysterious Paris

Cara Black is a Californian who writes dense mysteries set in Paris I learned from a blog I read. The small, wonderful local library here had three of the eight she's written and they follow a pattern. Featuring out-of-the-limelight political issues (Corsica, Vietnam, Turkey, etc.) and a different arrondissement (Paris' 20 wards) each time, these are intense, action-packed and human-relationship-intense stories. Most are Right Bank, my only disappointment, being a Left Bank girl at heart. They last roughly a week, the first chapter being, say, "Tuesday Afternoon" and the last "Saturday Morning." The shadowy black-and-white covers give the atmosphere (a long way from Paris Hangover!). So on a trip into Borders bookshop today, I treated myself to just-published #8 and will force myself to save it for the plane back to Alaska, even though "only a dip" has taken me to p. 35. And for background music while reading Black, the soundtrack from La Vie en Rose or anything by Ali Farka Toure works.

Cozy Mysteries

Cozy-mystery genre--who knew? For some time now I cannot handle thrillers or even "real" murder mysteries, and stumbled on these cozies here in the public library. A Cozy Mystery is set in a lovely place, among good people, and has to do with more mystery than murder. There are bad guys, but lots of good guys and delicious dinners, too. The detectives are usually women, but not always, Hamish Macbeth is a delightful exception, and so is Inspector 'Reg' Wexford of the Ruth Rendell cozies. Understanding 3-dimensional human nature and believing in the best of others is a cornerstone. Nothing hard-boiled. If anyone had ever told me I'd be devouring these sorts of books I would have snorted. No longer. The psyche craves cotton wool!

But I did get The Echo Maker, by Richard Powers, at the library yesterday, too. Epigraph: To find the soul it is necessary to lose it.--A. R. Luria A novel about an accident, and the injured man's ending up with a rare condition called "Capgras syndrome," when the person remembers events but not emotional connections. How the brain works after injury is the real thesis, and because of so many things around me, including The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, this is an intriguing read. The first page and a half is a blindingly beautiful description of sandhill cranes gathering in late February on the Platte, when suddenly into their midst a truck corkscrews and lands. I read these opening pages twice before going on. You can read them, too, on Amazon--just click 'Excerpt.' Stay tuned......

Meanwhile, there's a cozy mystery right here in this house; when I got up at 4, there was a lamp lit in the back room! Eerie, because the photo looks light from the flash, but the place was pitch dark except for the lit lamp! I don't use anything but the closet on the near wall and had never been close to that side of the room! I didn't go turn it off, wondering if whatever poltergeist turned it on would turn it off again, but no. Wish Hamish Macbeth were in the neighborhood!

Aha! Cozy mystery solved! When I went to turn off the lamp this morning, I couldn't find the switch, but as I fumbled around the lamp went to brighter, then off--a touch-sensitive lamp! So I bet Piha was exploring and touched it!

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

Torrential rains forecast yet again, strong winds---what better place to ride them out than the movie theater. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is marvelously filmed, and I am delighted the caregivers are given so much space and understanding. Even the one cradling Jean-Do in the swimming pool.....I do hope people honor the caregivers as a result! The movie is hard going, even knowing the book well, very hard going. Nothing is romanticized, and the respect to a weakened person is wonderful to see. But it leaves the day with a sober overcast, to match the sky here. I am so glad I went to see it--me and three other people in the theater. It is spare enough, like the book, for us to see everyone around the helpless person, and, hopefully, to be more aware!

The perfect antidote to T is for Trespass (Sue Grafton), with its portrait of a hurtful, greedy, dishonest caregiver. Trying to write a book review with the audiobook is hard, but there are 382 people on the library waiting list! But I see that a hard copy will cost a full $27! Maybe later.....

I still twist around in "caregiver re-entry," the central fact of my existence. Yes, I am trying to write an essay on this, too. Here, in beautiful downtown paradise, I feel so strongly the struggle to "be in the world." Part of the difficulty is that I don't know anyone who sees or understands that struggle, and how far it is to get back.

Jean-Dominique Bauby gave me courage!